Often poked fun at by politicians, the 45-year-old former Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer was challenged by none other than senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal in — not to criticize the political system as an outsider but join it to cleanse it from within. (BCCL)

Kejriwal joined the IRS in 1995 after qualifying through the Civil Services Examination. In November 2000, he was granted two years' paid leave to pursue higher education on condition that upon resuming his work he would not resign from the Service for at least three years. (BCCL)

After feeling "betrayed" by the government when it rejected their draft, Congress and other leaders challenged them to join politics, win elections and come to Parliament if they wanted to "fight system from within", root out corruption and get the Jan Lokpal Bill passed.
(BCCL)

In 2006, Kejriwal was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Emergent Leadership recognising his involvement in a grassroots movement Parivartan using right-to-information legislation in a campaign against corruption. (BCCL)